As many of you know, I've been working closely with Reid Hoffman for years now and one of the things that I've been working with Reid on from the beginning was thinking about LinkedIn, especially in the context of Japan.

As LinkedIn begins its global expansion, Japan is an important priority and recently I've been advising LinkedIn on a more formal basis.

Japan REALLY needs LinkedIn right now. LinkedIn is NOT a social network; it is a professional network. It is a network that allows people to build their professional identity, share business expertise and information, and advance your professional knowledge about subjects important to you. As privacy issues exceedingly become a concern, it's very important to keep your casual, gaming and social networks separated from your professional network. I think LinkedIn will be an essential tool for professionals in Japan as it is in the rest of the world.

So, this is my last "real job" before I transition over completely to the Media Lab role: helping to launch LinkedIn in Japan. And we're looking for the best talent out there. We need an awesome, dedicated team to run LinkedIn in Japan. This team will be responsible for the strategy, product roadmap, and growth in Japan - this the chance to be highly entrepreneurial while having the strength of a global brand behind your team.

We're Hiring!

We're looking for a variety of roles, and they are listed below. We are particularly looking for product and management leaders who want to take on this chance to manage user growth. LinkedIn is serious about Japan and this team would be working directly with a high-quality senior team in the US. I think it's a great career opportunity.

If you think you are a fit for for any of the roles we list below (or know someone who is), please apply for the role through the link below or email japanteam@linkedin.com. Please include your resume and/or a link to your LinkedIn profile.

We are also interested in general management and product marketing candidates.
I'll be blogging more about LinkedIn in Japan as we get closer to launching the Japanese product, but I wanted to get the word out that LinkedIn is planning to come to Japan in 2011, and we're hiring. Help me put together the dream team.

3 Comments

Sounds very interesting. I would love to be a part of helping you to find top talent in Japan. My colleague Jeff Swartz just sent me this info and I think that we could be of great help. He runs Talentinfusion and has a huge network of top talent, I have joined forces with Ingenium group as a consultant and am the president of Catalyst K.K. which organizes Japan's largest MBA Career Forum and has direct reach into the top 20 MBA programs in the country. Please let me know how I can get more actively involved.

Interesting article. I was wondering if LinkedIn is active in Japan, that's how I ended up on this blog.

I'm quite interested in the fact how LinkedIn would do in Japan. Entrepreneurs don't have the same reputation as in the Western world over there, while they are one of the most important aspects of LinkedIn. Generally, they're seen as outcasts in Japan, because of the importance of being hired by a large, long existing company for the average male reputation and with that succes in life. Also LinkedIn is quite a individually focused network with a lot of self-promoting. I don't know if that will fit in the traditionally minded Japanese corporate world.

Maybe, it's an idea to do something completely different in Japan while maintaining the core features to be able to synchronize with the features in the global Linkedin network (like the discussion groups). And for the Japanese LinkedIn, maybe it's an idea to put more focus on the collective profiles (company profiles for example) and make individual profiles less dominant (but still existent to synchronize with the global Linkedin of course).